Two Harbors
Two Harbors is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Minnesota, United States, along the shore of Lake Superior. The population was 3,745 at the 2010 census. Minnesota State Highway 61 serves as a main route in Two Harbors. Gooseberry Falls State Park is 13 miles (21 km) to the northeast. History In the early years Two Harbors consisted of two separate communities, Agate Bay and Burlington. The village of Burlington along Burlington Bay was platted in 1856, first incorporated on May 23, 1857; it had a post office that operated from 1856 until 1862. The first residence constructed in Agate Bay was owned by Thomas Sexton (1854); it was a 14- by 16-foot shack. Early settlers lived in primitive conditions, which was common for both the area and time. Their homes were made of logs and had dirt floors. Diets often consisted of homegrown vegetables and animals caught in the area (at that time there were many dense forests, so deer meat was not an abundant food source). The village of Agate Bay was created with the construction camp as work on the new railroad began in 1883. The village of Two Harbors was platted in 1885 but not incorporated until 1888. Early transportation to the village was by boats under contract with the new Duluth & Iron Range Railroad. It took only "one short day" to get from Duluth to Two Harbors. By 1886 the D&IR completed the Lake Division connecting Duluth and Two Harbors with passenger service that extended to Ely. Thirty-five logging camps were set up within the vicinity, one of them on Fourth Avenue. On February 26, 1907, the village reincorporated as the City of Two Harbors. The town's history is included in the Lake County Historical Depot Museum. Whiskey Row By 1883 the Minnesota Iron Company had purchased all but four acres of Thomas Sexton's land around Agate Bay. Sexton leased his remaining four acres to merchants seeking to capitalize on the 600-man workforce arriving to build the Duluth & Iron Range Railroad. He divided his four acres into 32 lots. As with any frontier town of the day it was a largely male population. The infamous four-acre plot earned the nickname "Whiskey Row", and was said to exist for the sole purpose of "relieving a man from his pay". Contrary to popular myth, Whiskey Row was not destroyed by a fire in 1888. There was a fire but it occurred before the first load of ore arrived in July 1884 and only seven buildings were damaged. It was reported that the merchants affected were in Duluth the next day purchasing materials to rebuild. Whiskey Row's demise occurred the following year. The railroad rapidly expanded its rail and shipping operations and needed all of the shoreline for its new coal handling and storage facility. By 1885 the Minnesota Iron Company convinced Sexton to sell his remaining four acres along Agate Bay. The railroad then simply evicted the tenants and moved any of the salvageable buildings inland. There are several homes in "east" Two Harbors whose original structures were on Whiskey Row. Category:Locations